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National Geographic : 1964 Feb
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its desert. When rain clouds move west from the Amazon basin, they strike the steep An dean cordilleras and dump their moisture. Thus the mountains and jungle are well wa tered. But Peru's narrow coastal fringe, span ning 1,475 miles between Ecuador and Chile and ranging from almost nothing to 120 miles wide, is virtually devoid of rain. One isolated spot near Tacna is so dry that wagon tracks and footprints made years ago remain undis turbed. Coastal graves preserve in near-per fect condition fine textiles and wood objects that were buried many centuries earlier. Yet this barren region yields much of the nation's wealth-minerals, including oil; and, surprisingly, agriculture. Farming flourishes in oases created by short rivers that plunge down from the snowfields of the sierra (page 242). Along the northern coast, we saw irri gated stands of sugar cane higher than our heads. Smoke rose in black columns from fields fired to burn off dry leaves. Later, giant 238 cranes clawed up the cane, loading it on flat cars for the mills. Hawaii alone produces more sugar per acre than Peru. On haciendas to the south, vineyards and fields of fine long-staple cotton, a major ex port, replace sugar cane. With Dofia Elena, Bates and I drove south along the coastal road to visit such an hacienda, owned by her nephew, Ismael Benavides. Political Slogans Deface Inca Ruins The garua misted our windshield as we left Lima, and fog played hide and seek with us for miles. We passed steep slopes crisscrossed with tracks where avid skiers pursue their sport on sand instead of snow. Political signs were scrawled on every conceivable surface, even on the Inca and pre-Inca pyramid temples at Pachacamac. Some of these slogans were international in flavor: "Castro al paredon!" (Castro to the wall!); "Muera el communismo!" (Death to
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